Career
From 1956 to 2002, he coached at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. He has the second most wins as a head coach in the history of basketball on any level, behind Robert Hughes. A number of his players went on to play in the National Basketball Association, including Adrian Dantley and Danny Ferry.
Wootten gained legendary status in 1965, when his DeMatha team beat Lew Alcindor"s Power Memorial Academy and ended their 71-game winning streak.
His career coaching record stands at 1,274-192. Former University of California, Los Angeles basketball coach John Wooden (1910–2010) described his admiration for Wootten when he said, "I know of no finer coach at any level – high school, college or pro.
I stand in awe of him." On October 13, 2000, Coach Wootten was inducted into the Hall of Fame, one of three high school basketball coaches ever so honored. His overall record at the time was 1,210 wins and 183 losses.
Wootten attended Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring before moving on to University of Maryland.
During his coaching career at DeMatha, located just two miles away from his alma mater, he received job offers from North Carolina State, Georgetown and American and interest from Duke, Wake Forest, and Virginia. Wootten turned down the offers, according to Sports Illustrated, because the Maryland job, which was not forthcoming, was the only college job he wanted.